Passenger car tyres

What you should bear in mind when buying car tyres

Many prospective buyers can find it difficult to navigate the jungle that is the wide range of models and advertising claims. Independent studies conducted by institutions and specialist magazines can provide further assistance in this regard. These regularly test car tyres from various manufacturers and assess their performance and safety in various environmental conditions and driving situations. Each of these studies focuses on tyres of a specific size. This is important, as a tyre model for a lightweight compact car, for example, will behave completely differently to a tyre for a heavy SUV.

The tyre labels provide another point of orientation. Here it is the EU tyre label that is of greatest significance. This informs you as to the roll resistance, wet grip, and noise emissions of car tyres. When it comes to roll resistance, it is the efficiency of the tyres that is assessed. Here the tyres are arranged into classes A to E – previously the classification ranged from A to G. With regard to wet grip, the braking behaviour is assessed on wet roadway. On the current label, the classification ranges from A to E, whereby A represents the best rating. In terms of the noise emissions, the rolling noise of the tyre is measured in decibels. "A" refers to tyres that fall 3 dB(A) or more below the associated threshold value, and "B" refers to tyres whereby the noise produced is less than 3 dB(A) below the threshold value. No tyres are marked with a C, as this would mean that the threshold value had been exceeded, and these tyres would then not be approved.